About Me. My Photo: Name: Mark Copyranter. I was an NYC advertising copywriter for 20 years. Now, I'm The Best Fucking Ad Critic In The World™. I hate capri pants. Also: advertising, PR, midtown, the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side, going to Brooklyn, NYC realtors, New York City, ...

I've become a fan of these walkyourcity.org signs. This one on the bike trail in Ottawa was perfectly placed right when I was tired from biking hard for over an hour. Hard to say no to an Italian sammie for lunch.﻿

Anyone who follows me knows that I have invested heavily in trying to be one of the foremost experts on the subject of Google Authorship and Google's overall desire to be able to identify authors as topical authorities.

So you might imagine that it came as a huge shock to me when I heard the announcement today that Google will be removing author photos entirely from Google search results. Some might expect I'd even consider it a blow. I don't, but more on that below.

Cleaning Up the SERPsGoogle's +John Mueller had the following to say about this change:

We've been doing lots of work to clean up the visual design of our search results, in particular creating a better mobile experience and a more consistent design across devices. As a part of this, we're simplifying the way authorship is shown in mobile and desktop search results, removing the profile photo and circle count. (Our experiments indicate that click-through behavior on this new less-cluttered design is similar to the previous one.)

And that's why this doesn't come as a huge surprise to me. Google has been telling us (and signalling by much of what they've done) that the game for the future of search is now to be won or lost on the mobile playing field. But with the addition of a street band's worth of bells and whistles on the SERPs these past few years, they had set themselves up for a very wobbly and inconsistent search experience.

In short, mobile users want things simple and clean.

It's the same thing most of us do when we realize it's finally time to unclutter our houses. Ultimately, some things must go. You hold up each object and try to think of ways you could justify keeping it, but in the interest of the bigger project (a cleaner, less cluttered house), that old bowling trophy goes into the waste bin.

The End of Authorship? Hells NoThat's how I think the decision process went down at Google. I think they understood the value of the author photos, but at the end of the day, whatever that value was, it was not greater than the value they'd gain by uncluttering their search pages.

Google Authorship continues. Qualifying authors will still get a byline on search results, so Google hasn't abandoned it.

Besides, the bigger project here for Google I think is not author photos in search but the much ballyhooed but so far elusive "author rank," the ability to confidently determine who the content creators are in any given topic whom most people trust, and boost their content when appropriate. At SMX Advanced this month +Matt Cutts indicated that was still a priority, but was also still a long way off in being accomplished.

This is a long haul project folks. Don't head for the lifeboats every time Google makes a change.

Am I disappointed to see the photos going? I sure am. But such is the search business. Google isn't driven by whims or emotions. If they're doing this, they're doing it because their data and testing tells them it will be for the better in the long run.

The biggest downside I see is that probably now there will be less incentive for new people to use Authorship markup. But I have a feeling Google isn't worried about that. As I've been saying, they know that most people never would adopt it anyway. They've got to be working on the ability to identify authors and their content without depending on markup.

Working on a book about the car accident which altered my life and which has given me a passion in life. If you Believe in yourself then you can Achieve anything. Anything is possible when you believe in yourself and don't let the negative influences into your life. Currently, the e-book is at the publishers and will soon be ready for sale.﻿

Hi, I'm Patrick Gant: web copywriter, speechwriter and digital marketing consultant. I've been in business for over ten years as owner of a successful writing company called thinkit creative (and even longer as a writer by trade).

I help professional people tell great stories that reach more people in less time. I do that through SEO-friendly writing for the web, speechwriting, advertising copywriting, marketing strategies, as well as writing and editing ebooks and other digital media.

But more than that, I'm a resource you can count on for advice.

I'm glad to share what I know. I do that in three ways.

The first way is through my newsletter, CreativeBoost, featuring valuable updates that I email exclusively to my readers who opt-in. I save my best work for here (you should join now).

The second way I share what I know is via new posts that I add regularly to my website, featuring useful advice on web copywriting and marketing, as well as tips from a speechwriter on how you can write persuasively. There's even an occasional music reference thrown in.

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I first started going here because I had an old bike (bought elsewhere) in need of TLC. Had I gone anywhere else, I'd have faced a long wait for service and likely would never have the same tech each time. Things work differently at McCrank's. Here, the owner is in the store, and you get consistent, honest advice from him and his staff every time. On several occasions now, I've been able to pop by the shop to get something tweaked or fixed, and every time they've been able to look after me right away. That counts for a lot with me. I was so pleased with their service that when I finally decided that it was time to upgrade my old bike, this was my first choice for picking a new ride. By far, the best bike shop in town. We are lucky to have a business like this serving the Ottawa cycling community.